Of Love and War
by mmgail
Summary: A Marauders Era fic
1. Chapter 1

James sat cross legged at his desk. He frantically flipped through a herbology book. Around the room, two of his best friends were similarly engaged. Sirius leaned against the wall, head bowed, dark hair falling into his eyes as he poured over a cookbook borrowed from James' mum. Peter lay on the floor, eyes narrowed and slowly turning pages. James glanced at Remus' most recent letter, half obscured by transfiguration notes.

… _moving to a small village in Whales. Mum wants to be closer to her parents, and a smaller town means less curious neighbours…_

They were so close. They couldn't let Remus spend another full moon alone.

Peter sat up, finger held to the upper right page. "Though a vital ingredient in many potent elixirs," he read aloud, "Mandragora alone produces no effect. Until combined with other ingredients, the roots and leaves, while certainly unpalatable, are harmless."

"Oh, thank God." James closed his book. "Remus warned us we'd swallow those damn leaves,"

"Yeah, well, we don't have to tell him he was right," Sirius said, tossing Mrs. Potter's potion book aside. "I want to get this done by the time term starts."

"I don't know if I can," Peter began.

Sirius waved a hand, "What, do you think we'd just leave you behind, Pete?"

"You're getting it, and we'll continue to help you." James reassured him.

"So, again?" Peter said.

James pulled a jar of mandrake leaves out of his school trunk.

Remus looked around, assessing his new neighbourhood. Hopefully this would be their last move. The three of them started to unload the moving van. In the middle of a muggle village, magic was out of the question. Sure enough, it didn't take long for one of the muggle neighbours to show up. The balding man introduced himself as Rob Cohen, invited the Lupins over for a barbecue that night, and proceeded to help them move in.

"You know, I have a few daughters around your age," Mr. Cohen told Remus.

Remus didn't answer. He had no intention of befriending Mr. Cohen's daughters. It was hard enough concealing his condition from his classmates at school, but having to explain his disappearances and injuries over the summer as well would be more than a little inconvenient.

"There's one of them, now," Mr. Cohen waved to a girl riding a bicycle down the street. She waved back, and, spotting Remus, waved at him too.

Remus waved reluctantly back. It was just his luck that Alexandra Stuart, a fellow fifth year Gryffindor, was his neighbour. He certainly liked her well enough; he had just been looking forward to a quiet summer of not having to explain away his lycanthropy.

"You know my step-daughter?" Mr. Cohen asked, noting the teenagers' greeting.

"Sure, we go to the same school," Alexandra called out, running over from her dropped bike.

"Ah, the mysterious boarding school," he replied, shaking his head.

Like her step-father, Alexandra wasted no time in introducing herself to the other Lupins and offering to help unpack.

"We're keeping my step-family in the dark about all the magic business," she whispered to Remus when Mr. Cohen was out of ear shot. "My mum insists it's easier for her."

Remus had never known Alexandra to be this energetic. She was over most afternoons, dragging Remus around the village with her. Her energy seemed to come in spurts. Some days she insisted she wanted to hang out, but didn't want to do anything. So she would borrow one of Hope's books and read while Remus answered letters from James, Sirius, and Peter.

She didn't say anything when he disappeared for a couple of days in July. She didn't question anything about his life until she knocked on his door shortly after August's full moon. Her eyes widened as she took in the purple bruises painting the left side of his neck and the fresh claw marks on his arms.

"God, Remus, what happened to you?"

Remus tried to stammer out some sort of explanation as Alexandra let herself in.

 _Oh shit._

She collapsed on the sofa expectantly. Remus reluctantly joined her.

 _Shit. Shit shit shit shit._ "I…I fell. From the tree." The tree out back was probably high enough to explain away most of his injuries. He prayed she wouldn't notice the red marks where the chains had rubbed his skin raw.

"Liar."

They were going to have to move again. But she would be at Hogwarts, and, suspicions aroused, how long would it take her to uncover his secret? He would just have to stick to his lie and convince her that he _did_ in fact fall from the tree. He met her eyes and remembered a similar, determined look during exams last term.

" _Remus, can I take a look at your transfiguration essay?"_

" _You're going to copy my answers?"_

" _Come on, Lupin. No questions, just let me see it."_ she had cajoled.

" _Alright, no questions."_ He handed over the essay. " _Just don't make it obvious."_

"You know what?" he said, "My turn for a 'no questions' thing, okay?"

"Wha-," she pursed her lips. Remus held his breath as Alexandra remained silent. Finally, she sighed. "No questions," she agreed. Shrugging, she added, "That must have been a pretty bad fall, I'm sorry that happened to you."


	2. Chapter 2

People flooded the platform as Lily hugged her parents goodbye. She turned to her older sister, hoping she would relent, but Petunia turned away, arms folded and nose in the air. "Come one, Petunia, don't be like that," Lily said softly.

"Goobye," Petunia said stiffly. Lily sighed and boarded the train. She waved once more to her parents then watched as they crossed the barrier back into the muggle station, led by Petunia.

"She still jealous?" sneered a voice behind her.

"Hey, Sev," Lily answered, looking away from the spot her family had disappeared.

"Forget her," He said, taking the seat across from Lily, "You won't have to deal with her for the rest of the year."

Lily nodded and blinked a few tears from her eyes. Severus leaned forward as if to say something, then jerked back.

"I've got to go;" Lily said, "there's a prefects' meeting, but it shouldn't take long,"

Severus nodded. His eyes lingered on the door long after she had left.

Towards the end of the train, four boys gathered outside a compartment, where two first-year students were gathering up their belongings. Sirius leaned against the compartment door, legs and arms loosely crossed.

"It's alright," James reassured them, pushing his spectacles more firmly onto his nose, "You couldn't have known this was _our_ compartment. But, as Sirius said," he gestured to the other boy, "you do have to clear out."

The two children scurried out, and the four boys filed in.

"How long will Remus' prefect meeting take?" Sirius asked, placing his feet on the seat across from him.

"Dunno"

They made sure to get plenty of chocolate for Remus when the trolley witch came by. When Remus returned, he wasted no time opening a chocolate frog.

"Who else?" James asked.

"Evans is the other Gryffindor prefect," Remus began. James sat up a little straighter at the mention of Lily's name. "Jeremiah Bates and Evelyn Moon for Slytherin, Jennifer McKinnon and Nathaniel Jones from Ravenclaw, and Alan Brown from Hufflepuff. Oh, and Jane Elliot's the other Hufflepuff; she came in late." He glanced at Peter as he said this, who blushed slightly at the mention of the Hufflepuff girl.

James, caught up in a fantasy about Lily, didn't notice, but Sirius let out a bark-like laugh. "Peter's gone as red as a quaffle!" he laughed. "What's up, Pete?"

"Nothing-I just-nothing," Peter stammered, shrinking slightly under the scrutiny of his three friends.

"We've already guessed," Remus said cheerfully. "So you might as well just confess,"

Peter sighed. "I fancy Elliot." His blush deepened.

Sirius sat back, a satisfied smirk on his face. James, coming out of his reverie, leaned forward and said, "Really, Peter, I don't know why you didn't just tell us." A grin spread across his face, "But now that it's out, we can help you!"

"Haven't had much luck with Evans, though, mate," Sirius teased.

James ran an unconcerned hand through his hair. "She'll go out with me this year; she can't resist my charm,"

Lily was relieved that Lupin was the other prefect, and not one of his idiot friends. Lupin was very nice; why he was friends with Black and Potter was beyond her. She walked with Severus into the great hall. He seemed very relieved when they separated to go to their house tables. They had been fine on the train, but he had grown agitated as they and the other students crowded onto hogsmeade station. Although she guessed the cause of his stiffness, she put it aside. After all, they were best friends.

She sat impatiently through the sorting ceremony. Looking around at the other fifth year girls, she noticed one was missing.

"Where's Claire?" she asked, finally piling food onto her plate.

Mary MacDonald, a short girl with black hair and eyes answered, "Her parents won't let her come back to school. They think it's safer to be all together."

"My dad left the country altogether," Alexandra said. "Pass the potatoes, please. I mean, he moved for work, but he really pushed for Nick and I to go with him. I didn't realize how scared he was until he tried to convince my mom and her husband to leave, too."

Mary nodded. "Caradoc Dearborn's parents also didn't want him to come back, but he insisted. He told them that he would be safer if he knew magic better."

Lily looked over to the Ravenclaw table at the head boy. She agreed with Dearborn. The more accomplished witch she was, the safer she was.

"Are you going to be on the team again this year?" Mary changed the subject. "Oh, sorry." She had put her question just as Alexandra took a large bite of potatoes.

"She better be," James leaned around two second years to chime in the girls' conversation. "I have enough positions to fill."

Alexandra swallowed. "Oh, are you captain?"

Lily and Mary turned to each other as Alexandra got into quidditch with James. Lily pretended not to notice James' eyes flickering toward her every so often. Mary noticed as well.

"You know the fourth years have a betting pool of how long it'll take Potter to ask you out this year," she teased.

"Oh my god."

"Apparently they've got good odds on this Wednesday at 2:35,"

"That's very specific."

Everyone who bet on Wednesday lost. Lily was rounding up the first years when James leaned across the table.

"Go out with me, Evans."

"No," she said, quickly herding the first years away.


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't believe we have potions with the Slytherins _every year_ ," James grumbled as they filed into the dungeon classroom. His words came out a little muffled due to the mandrake leaf he held in his cheek. Each boy, except Remus, held similar leaves in their mouths. They set up their cauldrons net to the Gryffindor girls, while the Slytherin students set up theirs on the other side of the classroom. Evans and Snape set up somewhere in between, forming a bridge between the two houses. James leaned back in his chair, glancing over at Evans as he ruffled his hair, but she wasn't paying attention.

Professor Slughorn, a plump, balding man, greeted certain students. "Welcome back, Mr. Snape, Miss Evans!" he said enthusiastically. "I can't wait to see your work this year-my best potion-brewing duo!" He chuckled to himself as he moved on. "Ah, Mr. Black!" he exclaimed, waddling over to Sirius, who had tilted his chair back on two legs. "I hope I'll see more of you this year!" He beamed.

Except for a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, Sirius' bored, haughty expression didn't change. "I expect to be very busy this year, professor," He said seriously, "You know, with Ordinary Wizarding Level and," he caught Remus' eye and smirked, "extra-curricular activities."

"Ah, yes," Slughorn whiffled a little through his mustache, "Yes, Ordinary Wizarding Level," he raised his voice, striding back to the front of the classroom. "As Mr. Black has pointed out, this year you will be sitting your O.W.L.'s, and as these are very important examinations, you will need to work extra hard this year-ah, Miss Roberts, I didn't see you earlier! Give my regards to your mother in your next letter!" He cleared his throat and continued addressing the class, "Yes, O.W.L.'s...So, I thought we'd start off with something difficult, to give you a taste of what your exams will be like." He grinned, rocking back and forth on his feet. "Open your books to page 43." There was a rustling of pages as the class flipped through their books.

The entirety of the class period was spent in concentration on the potion they were brewing. James, not wanting to appear too fixated on his school work, amused himself by levitating Evans' ingredients each time she reached for them. He responded to her glare with a smile and extra ruffle of his hair. When she retaliated by sending all of his ingredients across the room, he was forced to turn his attention again to his potion.

"Hey, Evans!" he called as they left the dungeons, but she pushed right past him. Ah, well, she couldn't ignore him forever. He barely listened to Professor Flitwick's lecture on O.W.L's; he had heard it already from every other teacher. Instead, he nudged Peter in the ribs.

"Psst, Elliot's over there," he whispered, nodding towards the other side of the room. Peter followed his gaze and turned a little pink. A girl with long, blonde hair sat with her chin in her hand, brow puckered nervously as Flitwick explained the difficulty of their work this year.

When the class ended, the boys immediately rounded on Peter. "Mate, just talk to her," Remus encouraged, but Peter shook his head.

"You have to," Sirius stated, pushing him forward, right into the blonde girl. She stumbled, losing her grip on the books she was placing into her bag.

"I'm so sorry!" Peter said immediately.

"Oh no, it's fine," she said, smiling reassuringly. "It's Pettigrew, right?"

Peter nodded. He shuffled his feet, then suddenly bent down to help retrieve the scattered books.

"So, do you-do-I mean, are you much of a reader?" he indicated the last book, a small paperback, to be placed in Elliot's bag.

Jane pulled it back out. "No, not really. But my mum's an English teacher, and she sends me some of the books on her curriculum. You can borrow it, if you want."

"Uh, sure. Thanks." Peter took the book. "I'm really sorry I made you drop your things."

"It's really alright." She smiled again and waved goodbye, following after her friends.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" James said, putting an arm around Peter's shoulders. "Shit, there goes my mandrake leaf."


	4. Chapter 4

Lily found Severus at their usual table in the library. With the increasing amount of homework each teacher thought necessary to assign and fulfilling her prefect duties, it was harder to find time to spend with her best friend. She sat down next to him and pulled out her books and parchment.

"Hey," he smiled as she sat down. "I've already started on McGonagall's essay, it's not terribly difficult,"

"Oh good," Lily replied, unrolling a sheet of parchment and readying her quill. It was relaxing, sitting with her best friend in that secluded corner of the library. They talked as they worked—clarifying a principle or making a joke. Severus stifled a laugh and looked intently at his open book, sinking into his chair. Lily looked around. She understood the change in Severus' behavior when she caught sight of the two older Slytherin boys.

"Well, if you're ashamed to be seen with me, I'll go," she said huffily, stuffing things into her bag.

"What?" Severus looked up, "No-it's not like that-" he protested. "Come on, Lil," he said when she continued to pack up her things, "You know how they can be-and you know I'm not-I mean, I don't think what they think about-"

"About muggleborns?" Lily finished, arms crossed. Severus nodded. The two boys had left, hadn't even noticed the Gryffindor and Slytherin arguing. Lily sat back down, but the easy mood was ruined. She shook her head slightly and refocused on her homework.

She felt Severus stiffen next to her again. What now? She followed his gaze across the room to Potter and his friends. With the barest half glance in her direction, Potter ran a hand through his already messy hair. Lily pretended not to notice.

"They're up to something," Severus hissed.

Lily sighed. "Potter's gang is _always_ up to something, Sev,"

He shook his head. "It's something about that Lupin..." he trailed off.

"Come off it," Lily said, "Remus isn't like Potter and Black.

"Lupin's never missed patrolling with you?" Severus asked forcefully.

He had, once. He had of course apologized afterwards and offered a clearly made up excuse.

"No," she said emphatically. "Look, do we need to go somewhere else?"

Severus shook his head.

"We have to go, Evans will think I'm studying," James declared, turning his back to the red head.

"You should be, we have a shit load of homework," Remus said mildly.

"We're not even studying, anyway," Peter said, "We're trying to sneak ingredients out of Slughorn's office so James can become an Animagus, too."

"Another reason why James should be studying," Remus pointed out, grinning.

James shook his head. "I can do it, I just keep spitting out the mandrake leaves by accident!"

"Listen," Sirius said, "It won't take all four of us to nick the ingredients we need. But, if any of us cause the distraction, he'll know we're up to something. We'll just have to do it when he's not anywhere near his office."

"But _alohomora_ won't unlock the door. The teachers really upped their game after third year. We have to draw him away from his office, leaving it unlocked."

"So we need someone else to distract Slughorn?" Peter suggested.

Remus looked up from his transfiguration essay. "I know someone who'll do it."

He found Alexandra on her way to quidditch practice. "I need a favour. No questions."

She didn't even hesitate. "Sure, what's the favour?"

"I need you to distract Slughorn for a bit tomorrow. After lunch, but before his third year potions lesson. He'll be in his office, and I need you to get him to leave."

She smiled. "Sure, not a problem."

James waited near Slughorn's office. The invisibility lay folded in his bag, just in case. He checked his watch. If Alexandra didn't hurry, they would miss their chance. Several shrieks and loud gasps drew students to one end of the corridor.

"THE HELL, STUART?" someone shouted.

Slughorn emerged from his office and made his way to the yelling mass of students. "What on earth are these kids up to now?" he muttered. James managed to catch the door just before it closed.

James joined the others milling into the transfiguration classroom, fresh ingredients tucked safely in his bag. Alexandra sidled in twenty minutes later, apologizing profusely to Professor McGonagall, but nonetheless looking very pleased with herself. The boys caught up with her after class.

"What happened?" James asked.

Alexandra slipped her arm through Remus'. "Oh, I punched Jason Atkins in the nose," she explained.

Remus stopped walking. "Why would you do that?" James and Sirius chuckled in the background.

"You asked for a distraction!" She retorted.

Remus resumed walking, smiling a little in spite of himself.

"Did Slughorn give you detention?" Peter asked.

"Nah, he was in a hurry so he just took a few points away." She glanced toward a group of Ravenclaws heading outside. "I should go, apologize, though." She hurried off in their direction.

Once again Lily found herself in the library. Sev had promised to meet her so they could work on an essay for potions. "I swear each teacher thinks they're the only ones giving us homework," she muttered to herself, casting [such and such charm] on her textbooks yet again. She glanced across the room to Potter and the gang, eyes narrowed. Reminding herself not to look, she returned to her charms. But she couldn't help looking. They weren't doing anything particular distracting. In fact, they weren't doing anything peculiar at all. Remus was working on an essay, Black was nonchalantly casting spells about, and Potter was talking quietly to Pettigrew, occasionally referring to the textbook between them. Potter appeared to be teaching, helping Pettigrew learn something Potter had no doubt gotten immediately.

 _That's actually really sweet_ , Lily thought, refocusing on charms. The sound of books crashing to the floor pulled her attention away again. At the table next to her, a pair of Hufflepuff students were gathering their scattered notes and books from the floor, sending glares across the room where Potter and Black were laughing. _And it's ruined._


End file.
